e issued slowly and in
but few instances. Yet a secret agitation was indicated in several parts
of the capital; there were numerous crowds; on the morning of the 23rd
several _corps-de-garde_ were attacked. As the fermentation increased,
the streets were crowded with idle workmen; people collected in knots
from curiosity, or stood at their doors. The storm was in the air,
evident both to those who dreaded it and those who were preparing to
make use of it.

Meanwhile the appeal of the revolutionary leaders to the National Guard
had been listened to. Many of the Parisian shopkeepers took part in the
"reform movement," without well understanding it, and marched under the
orders of their dangerous allies. Several detachments of the Seventh,
Third, Second, and Tenth Legions appeared in the streets, some in the
Faubourg St. Antoine, others marching to the Palais Royal, or the office
of the _National_ in the Rue le Peletier, and others in the students'
quarter shouting "Long live reform!" in every street. When General
Jacqueminot, the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, ordered a
general muster of the legions, a large number of the guards, respectable
and law-abiding men, did not answer to the summons. They had no desire
for a revolution or reform forced from the legal powers by insurrection,
but they shrunk from entering upon a struggle with soldiers wearing
their own uniform and influenced apparently by reasonable motives. They
remained in their homes dejected and anxious.

The King was as dejected as the Parisian citizens, and still more
anxious. For several months he had frequently fallen into very low
spirits, which was attributed to his grief at the death of his only
sister, Madame Adelaide of Orleans, whose life had been always
intimately associated with his, and who had just expired (December,
1847). His most intimate friends urged him to charm away the crisis by
changing his Ministry. He still resisted, but every hour less
vigorously. The Cabinet was not even informed of his perplexities.
"Concessions forced by violence from all the legal powers are not a
means of safety," said Duchatel; "one defeat would quickly bring a
second. In the Revolution there was not much time between that of June
20th and August 10th, and to-day things advance more quickly than in
those times. Events, like travellers, now go by steam."

The truth, however, was now becoming manifest, both in the King's mind
as to the tendency of his